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DOTTED WORDS 



IN THE 



HEBREW BIBLE 




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CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM & CO. 
1892 



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Gr<5 



Copyright, iSgz. 

BY 

EMILY O. GIBBES. 



In the Old Documents and the New Bible, by 
J. Paterson Smyth, L.L.B., B.D. 

I read the following : 

" In the account of Esau's meeting with Jacob, 
we are told (Gen. 33.4) that he fell on his neck 
and kissed him — and the words ' and kissed him ' 
are marked thus by these mysterious dots, which 
remain to this day in our Hebrew Bible." 

I cannot read Hebrew, but I think the dots 
mean more than they are supposed to do. May it 
not mean, Judas kissed the Christ and so betrayed 
him. We are to search the Scriptures, as they 
testify of Christ. . I wish I had all other words so 
marked in the Hebrew Bibles, to see if they do 
not also testify to the signs of knowing Christ. 

The author of the above book in telling of how 
an ancient and valuable copy of the Scriptures was 
effaced by a piece of pumice-stone, and the parch- 
ment used for St. Ephriam's discourses, says, "en- 
thusiastic admirers are generally ladies," so if a 
woman effaced the Scriptures years ago, a woman 



THE DOTTED WORDS 



now will do her best to make the Scriptures 
plain, and clear words to the praise of Christ. 

Mr. Smyth also says in Chapter on " Ancient 
Criticism " : " They attempted, too, a crude sort of 
Biblical criticism, such as marking in a certain way 
words about which there was something peculiar. 
The reader, perhaps, will wonder how this can be 
known when no one even of our most ancient 
writers has ever seen one of these vanished 
copies. He will find, however, in the following 
period of the history, that the copyists there make 
notes about certain dots and marks which had been 
transferred into their manuscripts, from earlier 
times, and which were so ancient that their mean- 
ing had even then become completely lost. 

" Some of their guesses at the meaning are rather 
amusing. For instance, in the account of Esau's 
meeting Jacob, we are told (Gen. 33.4) that he 
fell on his neck and kissed him, and the words 
' and kissed him ' are marked thus by these 



IN THE HEBREW BIBLE. 



mysterious dots. Some of the old commentators 
were greatly exercised in mind about the explana- 
tion of this. One thought they denoted that the 
kiss was sincere, another that it was not sincere, 
another that the dots represented Esau's teeth." 

I agree, therefore, with the scribe who thought 
the kiss was not sincere — since I think it to point 
out Judas' kiss given to Christ as a sign; when he 
betrayed Jesus unto death. And if the ancient 
Jewish authority attributes the marks to Ezra, 
and that Ezra when asked about the dots, said, 
"When Elijah comes, if he asks why I wrote down 
that word, I will answer, ' I have already dotted 
it,' " I think he must have answered, that he was 
inspired to dot the words — so dotted them as we 
now have them dotted in our Hebrew Bibles to 
this our day. Though I do not believe every word 
in our Bible is inspired, I believe the spirit of the 
Bible, the essence, as it were, of the Bible, is in- 
spired, and these dotted words, if they mean what 



THE DOTTED WORDS 



I have tried to show them to mean, if it is so, 
then they certainly were inspired, so many years 
before Christ lived on this earth, if they were 
written so long ago, then they who wrote the 
words and dotted them were inspired — and in- 
spired by the Spirit of God. 

I may have made mistakes, as I do not know 
one word of the Hebrew, but I have tried to do 
this much, in hopes that some learned Hebrew 
scholar will take up the work and perfect it — for 
there are many more dotted words in the Hebrew 
Bible — dotted with one dot, so far as I can make 
out. 

This is only an attempt by a woman, who knows 
her Bible, but who does not know one word of 
Hebrew. With the help of an old Hebrew Bible 
and her English Bible, she has tried to replace in 
this world what a woman effaced " with a piece 
of pumice-stone " years ago. 

1892. E. O. G 



Words with the mysteri- What I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 

GENESIS. 

Chap. 6, Verse 9: 

Noah was a just man, The Virgin Mary de- 
perfect in his genera- scended from Noah, and 
tion. And Noah walked she was the human 
with God. Mother of Christ. 

Chap. 12, Verse i: 

The Lord had said The Lord said to 

unto Abram, Get thee Joseph, Arise and take 

out of thy country, and the young child and his 

from thy father's house, mother, and flee into 

unto a land that I will Egypt. 
show thee. 



s 



THE DOTTED WORDS 



Words with the mysteri- What I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 

GENESIS— Continued. 

Chap. 12, Verse 10: 

Abram went down And Joseph was there 
into Egypt to sojourn with the child until the 



there. 



Verse 20: 

And Pharaoh sent 
him away. 



death of Herod, as it 
was spoken by the 
prophet: " Out of Egypt 
have I called my son." 



Chap. 18: 

The Lord appeared Three, the Father, the 

unto Abraham in the Son, the Holy Ghost, 

form of three angels, as Jesus has told us that 



IN THE HEBREW BIBLE. 



Words with the mysteri- What I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 

genesis—Continued. 

three men. They told nothing is impossible to 

him that nothing was God. 

impossible to God — that Elizabeth, mother of 

Sarah in her old age John the Baptist, had a 

should have a son. son in her old age. 

Chap. 23: 

Abraham's purchase Joseph of Arimathsea 

of a cave for a sepul- took the body of Jesus 

chre. and laid it in a sepulchre 

that was hewn in stone. 

Chap. 26, Verse 19: 

And Isaac's servants Jesus said to the 

digged in the valley, woman of Samaria, 



io THE DOTTED WORDS 

Words with the mysteri- What I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrezv. in the New Testame?it. 

GENESIS— Continued. 

and found there a well " Whosoever drinketh 

of springing water. of the water that I shall 

give him shall never 

thirst, but the water 

that I shall give him 

shall be in him a w r ell of 

water springing up into 

everlasting life." This 

woman said: "I know 

that Messias cometh, 

which is called Christ. 

When He is come He 

will tell us all things." 
* 

Jesus said unto her, " I 

that speak unto thee 

am Her 



IN THE HEBREW BIBLE. n 

Words with the mysteri- W hat I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 

GENESIS— Continued. 

Chap. 28, Verse ii: 

And he lighted upon Jacob's dream — he 

a certain place, and tar- saw with his spirit what 

ried there all night, be- he could not see in the 

cause the sun was set; flesh, that the soul can 

and he took of the stones communicate with God 

of that place and put The ladder by which 

them for his pillows, the soul reaches heaven 

and lay down in that is Christ. 

place to sleep. Sleep means the 

death of the body, not 

of the soul. 
Verse 12: 

Jacob in his dream Jesus said, " Here- 
saw a ladder set up on after ye shall see heav- 
the earth, and the top en open, and the angels 



12 



THE DOTTED WORDS 



Words with the mysteri- What I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 



GENESIS- 
of it reached to heaven; 
and behold the angels 
of God ascending and 
descending on it. 

Chap. 33, Verse 4: 

Esau ran to meet Ja- 
cob, and kissed him. 

Chap. 37, Verse 9. 

Joseph's dream. " I 
have dreamed a dream 
more, and behold, the 
stm and the moon and 
the eleven stars made 
obeisance to me/' 



■Continued. 
of God ascending and 
descending upon the 
Son of Man. 



Judas betrayed Jesus 
Christ with a kiss. 

All will be put under 
the feet of Christ — the 
sun and the moon and 
the stars. 

The eleven tribes will 
make obeisance to the 
tribe in which Jesus 
was born. 



IN THE HEBREW BIBLE. 13 

Words with the mysteri- What I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 

GENESIS— Continued. 

Chap. 41, Verse 10: 

Pharaoh's chief butler The disciples of 

remembers Joseph, still Christ remembered af- 

in prison, and tells how ter His death all that 

he explained dreams, He had told them; what 

and that the interpreta- He had explained to 

tion came true. them; and that all had 

come true. 

Chap. 45, Verses ii, 17 
and 18: 

Joseph sends for his Christ leaves heaven 

father and brethren to to come to this earth to 

come to Egypt, to save save those who are His 

them from poverty. from poverty of spirit. 



14 THE DOTTED WORDS 

Words with the mysteri- What I find them to ?nean 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 

GENESIS— Continued. 

Chap. 44, Verse 19: 

Judah offers himself Jesus Christ offers 
to suffer and die, so as Himself to suffer and 
to save his brethren. die, so as to save those 

who are His brethren. 

EXODUS. 

Chap. 6, Verses i and 14: 

God speaks to Moses Jesus leads us to God. 

He will lead them from He goes before us — to 

Egypt to the promised the promised rest, 

land — He tells Moses Christ said, "Verily 

that He appeared to verily, I say unto you, 

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. before Abraham was, 

I am." 



IN THE HEBREW BIBLE. 



i5 



Words with the mysteri- What I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 



EXODUS— Continued. 



Chap. 10: 

And the Lord said The signs of Jesus 

unto Moses, Show were shown before 

these my signs before Jerusalem, and the 

Pharaoh. Jews. 



Chap. 14, Verse 16: 

The Children of Israel 
go through the Red Sea. 



The baptism of Jesus. 



Chap. 18: 

J e thro, the priest, givest Jesus, our Priest, gives 

counsel to Moses. counsel to His disciples. 

Chap. 20: 

The Ten Command- Jesus also said we 

ments. must keep them. 



i6 



THE DOTTED WORDS 



Words with the mysteri- What I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 

EXODUS— Continued. 

Chap. 25, Verses i, 2, 19: 

Of giving willingly. Jesus gave Himself 

An off ering of the heart, willingly, and is above 

The mercy seat. the mercy seat. 



Chap. 26: 

The veil of the taber- When Jesus died, the 

nacle. veil of the temple was 

rent in two. God was 
no longer hid from 
those who saw Him in 
Christ. 

Chap. 30, Verses 10, 11: 

Aaron shall make an Christ's atonement is 
atonement most holy most holy unto God. 
unto God. 



IN THE HEBREW BIBLE. 17 

Words with the mysteri- What I find them to mean 
ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 



EXODUS— Continued. 

Chap. 34, Verses 22, 35: 

The firstlings re- Christ is the first 

deemed with a lamb. fruit, first risen from 

And Moses put a veil the dead ; He is the 

on his face. lamb which redeemed 

us. 

God's face is veiled 
from us, except in 
Christ. 



Chap. 37, Verse 43: 

Seven lamps. Seven churches of 

Christ. 



18 THE DOTTED WORDS 

Words with the mysteri- What I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testame?it. 

LEVITICUS. 

Chap. 6, Verses i, 25: 

If a soul sin — There is to be no 

In the place where more burnt offerings, 

the burnt offering is Christ has died as a 

killed, shall the sin sin offering, 

offering be killed be- His death before the 

fore the Lord. It is Lord is most holy, 
most holy. 

Chap. 9: 

Sin offerings. Christ died to save us 

from sin. 



Chap, ii and 12, Verse 

27: 

What goes on all A child of flesh is 
fours is unclean. Bring therefore unclean. 



IN THE HEBREW BIBLE. 19 

Words with the mysteri- What I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 

LEVITICUS— Continued. 

a lamb or two turtles, Mary, the Mother of 

two young pigeons, for the human body of 
an atonement. Christ, kept this law. 

Christ took upon Him 
our human flesh. He 
tells us that His soul 
was sanctified by the 
Father, and sent into 
this- world of sin. 

By taking our flesh 
from a pure virgin, He 
was able to die in the 
flesh for our atonement. 



20 THE DOTTED WORDS 

Words with the mysteri- W hat I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 

LEVITICUS— Continued. 

Chap. 14, Verse 28: 

Cleansing with oil. God's laws for cleans- 

ing the body to make it 
more fit as a dwelling- 
place for the soul. 

Chap. 16: 

The high priest must All refers to Christ, 

enter into the holy He is our High Priest, 

place, the sin offering, He has entered the 

the scapegoat, the year- holy place, 
ly expiations. 

Chap. 19, Verse 30: 

And the Lord spake Christ preached to the 

unto Moses, saying, congregations — multi- 

" Speak unto all the con- t u d e s in many places 



IN THE HEBREW BIBLE. 21 

Words with the mysteri- What I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 

LEVITICUS— Continued. 

gregation, and say unto He said, " Make not My 

them, ye shall be holy, Father's house a house 

for the Lord your God o f merchandise. M y 

is holy. Ye shall keep Father's house is a house 

My sabbaths, and rever- of prayer." 
ence my sanctuary. I 
am the Lord. 

Chap. 21: 

The priest must be Christ our High Priest 

holy— must not have a had no blemish, 
blemish. 

Chap. 25: 

Redemption by the Christ is our redemp- 

priests. tion. 



22 THE DOTTED WORDS 

Words with the mysteri- What I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 

LEVITICUS— Continued. 
Chap. 26, Verse $y. 

And I will scatter you Christ foretold the 

among the heathen, and destruction of Jerusa- 

will draw out a sword lem. Behold your house 

after you, and your land is left unto you desolate, 
shall be desolate and 
your cities waste. 

NUMBERS. 

Chap. 4, Verse 35: 

From thirty years old And Jesus Himself be- 

and upward even unto gan to be about thirty 

fifty, every one that en- years of age. And He 

tereth into the service preached from the pro- 

for the work in the phet Esaias. The Spirit 

tabernacle of the con- of the Lord is upon Me, 

gregation. because He hath an- 



IN THE HEBREW BIBLE. 23 

Words with the mysteri- What I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 

NUMBERS— Continued. 

nointed Me to preach 
the gospel to the poor. 
He hath sent Me to heal 
the broken-hearted, to 
preach deliverance to 
the captives, and recov- 
ering of sight to the 
blind, to set at liberty 
them that are bruised, 
to preach the accepta- 
ble year of the Lord. 
Then Jesus said to them 
who heard him, "This 
day is this scripture ful- 
filled in your ears. The 
prophet Esaias spoke 
this of Christ. ,, 



24 



THE DOTTED WORDS 



Words with the mysteri- What I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 



NUMBERS— Continued. 
Chap. 8: 

And the Lord spake Christ's age is given 

unto Moses. when He began to 

The lamps, the age preach, 

and time of the service We should follow this 

of the Priest. rule. 

[This may also mean Christ kept the Pass- 

our Chapter 9.] over. 

The Passover is com- 



manded again. 



Chap. 13: 

And the Lord spake True priest must be 
unto Moses. called to preach by God. 

The names of the 
men who were sent to 
search the land. 



IN THE HEBREW BIBLE. 



25 



Words with the mysteri- What I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrew, in the New Testament. 

NUMBERS— Continued. 

Chap. 17: 

Aaron's rod. Christ the son of 

David. 
Chap. 19: 

The water of separa- The uncleanness of a 

tion made of the ashes of dead body, be the body 

the red heifer. man or beast. 



Chap. 22: 

And the children of 
Israel set forward. 



The story of Balah 
and Balaam — read Ba- 
laam's parable in verse 
19 to 25 — in our 23d 
Chapter — u God is not 
a man that He should 
lie, neither the son of 



26 



THE DOTTED WORDS 



Words with the mysteri- What I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 



N UMBERS— Continued. 



Verse 40 : 

And Balah offered 
oxen and sheep. 



man that He should re- 
pent ; hath He said, and 
shall lie not do it." 

This is a strong proof 
of inspiration. The man 
could not speak any 
words but those God 
gave him to speak con- 
cerning Israel's people. 



Chap. 26, Verses 9, 10, 1 1 
and 41: 
Those who strove Those who strive 
against Moses were against God will be de- 
swallowed by the earth stroyed. Their children 



IN THE HEBREW BIBLE. 27 

Words with the mysteri- W hat I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 

NUMBERS— Continued. 

with Korah. The chil- if they obey God will 

dren of Korah died not. not die. 

The sons of Benjamin 
after their families were 
45,600. 

Chap. 30 : 

Vows are not to be In the New Testa- 
broken. Moses told the ment I find vow not at 
children of Israel all all, but if you make a 
that the Lord com- vow keep it. 
manded Moses. 

Chap. 33: 

The journey of the Our life on this earth 

Israelites. is only a journey. 



28 THE DOTTED WORDS 

Words with the mysteri- What I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 

DEUTERONOMY. 

Chap. 4, Verses 22, 23: 

Moses — " But I must Christ died on this 

die in this land." He earth in the human 

tells them : Take heed body, that we might live 

unto yourselves — make in heaven. 

no graven image which He told those who be- 

God has forbidden thee, lieved Him, to take heed 

unto themselves, that 
they keep His com- 
mandments. 

Verse 45 : 

The testimonies, the And when He is come, 
statutes, the judg- He will reprove the 
ments. world of sin, and of 

righteousness, and of 
judgment. Of sin, be- 



IN THE HEBREW BIBLE. 29 

Words with the mysteri- What I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 

DEUTERONOMY— Continued. 

cause they believe not 
on Me. Of righteous- 
ness, because I go to My 
Father, and ye see Me 
no more. Of judgment, 
because the prince of 
this world is judged. 
Chap. 8, Verses ii, 12: 

Beware that thou for- And Jesus looked 
get not the Lord thy God, round about, and saith 
in not keeping His com- unto His disciples, how 
mandments, and judg- hardly shall they that 
ments, and His statutes, have riches enter into 
lest when thou prosper the kingdom of God. 
in everything thou for- 
get God. 



30 



THE DOTTED WORDS 



Words with the mysteri- W hat I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 



DEUTERONOMY— Continued. 

Chap, io, Verse io: 

Moses and I stayed in And Jesus was in the 

the mount forty days desert forty days and 

and forty nights, that forty nights, bearing 

the Lord would not de- the temptations, that 

stroy thee. the Lord would not de- 
stroy us. 

Either Chap. 12, Verse 
26, or Chap. 13, 
Verse 26: 



Holy things in a holy 
place. 

Directions about 
money. 



Give not that which 
is holy unto dogs. 

Cast not your pearls 
before swine. 

Give money to the 
temple of God. 



IN THE HEBREW BIBLE. 



3i 



Words with the mysteri- What I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 



DEUTERONOMY— Continued. 

Chap. 18, Verses 17, 18: 

And the Lord said Jesus Christ is the 
unto' me: They have Prophet. He goes be- 
well spoken. I will raise fore us in spirit, as Mo- 
them up a Prophet from S es led the people from 
among their brethren, Egypt. He was of the 
like unto Moses, and I Hebrew people. He 
will put My words in was the word of God. 
his mouth, and he shall He spoke the words of 
speak unto them all that God. 
I shall command him. Jesus saith, " My meet 

is to do the will of Him 
that sent Me and to fin- 
ish His work. 

"As the Father gave 
Me commandment, even 
so I do." 



32 THE DOTTED WORDS 

Woras with the mysteri- What I find them to mean 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 

DEUTERONOMY— Continued. 

Chap. 22, Verses 10, n, 
and 12: 

About garments — not They parted the gar- 

of woolen and linen ments of Christ when 

together. they crucified Him. 

Chap. 26: 

Offer the first fruits Offer your first thanks 

to God, and remember to God from a pure 

that God had given heart, and remember 

them a land to dwell in, that He made us free 

and be free. by Christ. 

Chap. 29: 

Moses exhorteth them Christ said: The 

to obedience by the works which the Father 

memory of the works hath given Me to finish, 

they have seen. the same works that I 



IN THE HEBREW BIBLE. 33 

Words with the mysteri- What I find them to mean 
ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 

DEUTERONOMY— Continued. 

do, bear witness of Me, 

that the Father hath 

sent Me. 
Chap. 30, Verses 8, 9: 

God will bless and Those who keep the 

have mercy upon all words of Christ will 

who keep His command- God bless and have 

ments and statutes. mercy upon. 

Chap. 31: 

Moses spake to all Christ foretold how 

Israel. Told them his He must die, and also 

age, and that he had said it was best for 

been told by God that those who loved Him, 

he himself would not for then He would send 

go over Jordan, but that them the Holy Ghost, 
they would go to the 



34 THE DOTTED WORDS 

Words with the 7nysteri- What I find them to mea?i 

ous dots in the Hebrew. in the New Testament. 

DEUTERONOMY— Continued. 

promised land and pos- 
sess it. 

Chap. 32: 

Moses is to die in j esus Christ died on 

Mount Nebo. Mount Calvary. 

Chap. 33: 

Moses blessed the Christ, " while He 

children of Israel before blessed them, He was 

his death. parted from them, and 

carried up into heaven.'' 
And He also said: " Go 
ye, and teach all nations, 
baptizing them in the 
name of the Father and 
of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost." 



THE 

RELIGIONS OF THE EAST 

OF THIS DAY: 



WHAT THEIR ROOT DECLARES 
THEM TO BE. 



1892 

E. O. G. 



BUDDHA. 

If Buddha was born about 620 B.C. and died 
543 B.C., he must have taught his disciples that 
Christ was expected to come to this earth, and he 
must have told them when to look for Him. And 
these disciples taught others, as they were taught. 

So, this being true, "the wise men from the 

East" came to find Christ at the right time. 

" Where is He that is born King of the Jews, 
for we have seen His star in the East, and are 
come to worship Him ?" The star which they saw 
in the East went before them, until it came and 
stood over where the young Child was; when they 
saw the star they rejoiced with exceeding great 
joy. 

Certainly these wise men expected Christ, they 
knew of the prophecy of Christ's coming. 

Now the Buddhists say that Buddha was a wise 
man, pitiful, and honored; and in their ignorance 



3S THE DOTTED WORDS 



of Christ, they call Buddha the saviour of the 

world. 

They knew a Saviour was promised, and that a 
star would lead them to find Him. So in their 
book of legends they speak of a star about the 
time of the birth of their Buddha, and many other 
things which were prophesied about Christ, which 
proves that they knew of the prophecies of Christ. 

How is it that they missed receiving Christ— 
that is, understanding about prophecies ? 

Their wise men who returned from Jerusalem 
must have carried home the news of the birth of 

Christ. 

If the Buddhists compare their Buddha to the 
true Christ, they will find that their Buddha is 
without the Divine nature of Christ. 

If their religion is so lost that extravagances 
disfigure the record, should they not strive to look 
back in their records, and see if it is not Christ 
whose life and character as a man, whose miracles 



IN THE HEBREW BIBLE. 39 

and death and resurrection as God; whose great 
mercy and love for mankind as a Saviour they 
have in their mistake imputed to their Buddha ? 

THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY. 
By H. P. Blavatsky. 

Having read the above book, I turn to the New 
Testament to think and study this book. I find 
this: Christ came to this earth by the Divine 
Spirit; which strived with mankind, which was 
dimly seen by men, understood by no people, un- 
til Christ the Divine took upon Him the nature of 
man. Because churches and dogmas have lost 
their way from Christ's teachings and life on this 
earth, is no reason that His teachings and life were 
in vain. The self-sacrifice of theosophy does not 
equal the self-sacrifice which Christ teaches. The 
theosophy idea of punishment for evil done by 
each individual corresponds to the purgatory idea. 



4 o THE DOTTED WORDS 



All true thinkers realize that evil must have a 
punishment here and in the next world. 

As I believe in individual souls or spirits, I think 
the punishment will be hereafter in the full per- 
ception of the evil we have done, until circle after 
circle of evil dies away, like the circles made by 
the stone dropped into the placid lake— they ex- 
tend very far, but they at last die away. How- 
ever, we have been told that the soul that sinnest, 

it shall die. 

Now if it is true that these Eastern religions 
are obscure as to their commencement, there is 
but one conclusion about it, which is this: The 
wise men from the East who journeyed to Jerusa- 
lem to find Christ, whom they called the King of 
the Jews, the word king meaning the highest, the 
head of a nation, the crown of the only one 
worthy of a crown. These men knew the prophe- 
cies about Christ, they were learned men, and 
they knew partly what Christ's mission on this 



IN THE HEBREW BIBLE. 41 

earth was to be at His coming, and unless they had 
been taught of God, and been spiritual men, be- 
sides learned, they never would have expected at 
that time and looked for the Christ. They must 
have taught when they returned to the East all 
that they understood what the coming of Christ 
was to mean. 

Now the East, not having held fast to the true 
teachings of these wise men, has lost the simple 
and plain and beautiful rudiments of Christ's 
teachings. 

It is hard to believe that those wise men after 
finding Christ whom they had long expected, did 
not take means to follow and know the life and 
death of the same Christ whom they had found 
when He was only a child — try to understand His 
human and Divine life, human death, and at the 
last Divine life. The East loosing what the wise 
men taught them, their religion became obscure. 

The theosophists say that they believe the soul, 



42 THE DOTTED WORDS 

after the death of the body, enters another body 
here on earth, so as through sufferings to be puri- 
fied from former sins. As they cannot know that this 
is so, it makes very little difference. We know that 
nothing is impossible to God, and all thinking 
souls know that punishment of some kind is due to 
sin, that sin cannot enter heaven, and that sin 
makes its own punishment, and not that God makes 
the punishment, and that the soul that sinnest 
(which is so much worse than the sins of the body) 
it shall die. 

No one but the soul and the spirit from God 
knows that the soul has sin; between these two is 
the sin known. This is the inward mind and 
thought towards God. 

Theosophists say that prayer kills self-reliance. 

We say, on the contrary, prayer, secret and 
silent, is the only thing to give self-reliance 
Prayer is almost always " Help me to do — 
or not to do, a thing," "Help me to understand 



IN THE HEBREW BIBLE. 43 

and judge rightly," " Help me to act and think 
rightly," "Give me courage, give me faith," 
" Direct and guide me," " Leave me not alone, 
support and comfort me." And we say, " accord- 
ing to our faith it will be unto us." If I have a 
case in which I must act in haste, I must in soul 
ask in haste for judgment as to how I must act. I 
believe I am guided, and I act. The final result 
of my action I can not see at once, but I will see 
it sooner or later. 

Those who have not the habit of making a quick 
and sudden prayer, may say that prayer kills self- 
reliance, but others know that it does just the re- 
verse. Theosophy has taken from the New Testa- 
ment all that it has of good, and does not ac- 
knowledge that it owes all it knows of good to 
Christ. 



44 THE DOTTED WORDS 

IN NATIVE LIFE IN SOUTH INDIA. 
By Henry Rice. 

We find " the Brahmins belong to the Aryan 
race, and came into South India about the be- 
ginning of the Christian era. They are fair 
featured, handsome and well built, courtly and 
polished in their manners, but haughty and 
crafty. 

"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of 
Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold there 
came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, saying, 
' Where is He that is born King of the Jews ? for 
we have seen His star in the East, and are come to 
worship Him/ and when they were come into 
the house they saw the young Child with 
Mary, His mother, and fell down and wor- 
shipped Him, and when they had opened their 
treasures (what they valued most) they presented 
unto Him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh, 



IN THE HEBREW BIBLE. 45 

and being warned of God in a dream that they 
should not return to Herod they departed into their 
own country another way." 

They went to South India, not to the north of 
India, and the pure faith of the Brahmins at its 
root, was faith in Christ. 

Now the wise men who went to Jerusalem 
guided by a star, perhaps were the Brahmins 
from India, where it is supposed that every one 
has a guardian star — or that a star appears in the 
heavens for the first time at the birth of some 
important person. 

These men had heard through the prophets of 
the promise that Christ should be born in the 
nation of the Jews, and after finding the young 
Child they returned to their country another way. 

They did not wait to see and learn by the life of 
Christ the full meaning of His birth and death, 
but they carried back this much, that a Son had 
been born who would save the race of mankind 



46 THE DOTTED WORDS 



from their sins, and through this Son alone man- 
kind would enter heaven. Hence their idea that 
a man must have a son, and not a daughter, for 
the sake of eternal life hereafter. This idea can 
be found in " High Caste Hindu Women," a book 
written by a Hindu woman — Rahabai. 

Although the code of Manu contains a single 
passage in which it is written "A daughter is 
equal to a son" (See Manu, ix., 130), the context 
expressly declares that equality to be founded 
upon the results attainable through her son; the 
passage, therefore, cannot be regarded as an ex- 
ception to the statement that the ancient code 
establishes the superiority of male children. A 
son is the most coveted of all blessings that a 
Hindu craves, for it is by a son's birth in the fam- 
ily that the father is redeemed. 

" Through a son he conquers the worlds, through a son's 
son he obtains immortality, but through his son's grandson 
he gains the world of the sun."— Manu, ix., 137- 



IN THE HEBREW BIBLE. 47 

" There is no place for a man (in heaven) who is destitute 
of male offspring." — Vast's ht ha, xvii., 2. 

If a man is sonless, it is desirable that he should 
have a daughter, for her son stands in the place of 
a son to his grandfather, through whom the grand- 
father may obtain salvation. 

* ' Between a son's son and the son of a daughter there 
exists in this world no difference; for even the son of a 
daughter saves him who has no sons, in the next world, 
like the son's son." — Manu, ix., 139. 

Does not this mean that the Hindu race may 
remember certain teachings and beliefs, come 
down to them in their early religion, partly lost 
and not fully understood ? such as, it is by a son's 
birth on this earth that mankind will be redeemed; 
through this son we will conquer the world; we 
will obtain immortality; we enter heaven through 
the son, but our son is the Son of God. The 
Hindus seem to have a dim idea of the great 



48 THE DOTTED WORDS 

truth, in what they have to say about life in the 
next world. 

Some day the whole truth may break upon their 
minds, and they will know that the true Son who 
redeems the world is Jesus Christ, and by Him 
alone they will conquer themselves and obtain 
immortality — and also understand that Jesus 
raised woman to a great height, far above man, 
when He was born of a woman. 

VISHNU. SHIVA. SURAJA. 

These three essences make the god of the 
Buddhists. 

This is doubtless a dim idea of the Trinity. 

Then, again, their legend of Buddha giving 
himself to feed the starving tigress, so as to save 
the life of the tigress and of her young, is also 
some dim idea of Christ leaving heaven to give 
Himself by death to save mankind alive, and a 



IN THE HEBREW BIBLE. 49 

mankind which was not much above a tigress and 
her young. 

Also they say the prince of darkness sought to 
shake their Buddha's mind. This is doubtless a 
dim idea of Christ's temptation in the desert. 

Their Nirvana means forgetfulness of this life's 
evil; they try to explain that their soul as well as 
their body dies, but that their spirit lives forever. 
They simpfy mean, what we believe, that the 
spark from. God which is in us, be it called soul or 
spirit, can never die, since it is a spark from God. 

In all these Eastern religions, which I have 
carefully read, I find at the root of them all is the 
same belief — which is nothing more or less than 
the religion of Christ — in fact, the best in all is 
taken from the New Testament, that is, in the 
books written since the New Testament. In the 
,"Key to Theosophy," they quote from the New 
Testament, use the words found in the New Tes- 
tament, and then claim that an older religion than 



50 THE DOTTED WORDS 

the Christian religion has been quoted by the 
followers of Christ, forgetting that the Divine 
nature of Christ was before the world was made. 

E. O. G. 



End. 



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